


Snowflakes

by Livya



Category: Frozen (2013), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: And pretty much everything, Dead Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, I'm Bad At Tagging, Jack is lonely, Kid Elsa (Disney), M/M, That's not really what I intended, You could read it that way, and writing, sorry if you hate it, sort of Elsa/Jack Frost?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-16 03:37:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11820420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livya/pseuds/Livya
Summary: When Elsa was only a few hours old, she was visited by Jack Frost, in search of a friend after centuries of being alone.The little girl smiled, her hands twirling through his hair, every touch the first human contact he’d received for well over a century. “You see me!” He laughed, leaping into the air, spinning the two of them around as the wind slowed their fall. “This is amazing… you can actually see me, you believe in me!”Pretty much just my headcanon that Elsa got her powers from Jack Frost.





	Snowflakes

The day Elsa of Arendelle was born, the city was blanketed in a gentle layer of snow and frost. The King and Queen took one final fond look at their firstborn, before leaving her in the capable hands of the nanny, and shutting the doors carefully. They were only too aware of the dangers posed to a new-born royal, and were determined to keep her safe.

The nanny, as it happened, was not quite as capable as they had first thought. She was too preoccupied with other things (namely the footman guarding the door) to be bothered with looking after a gross little baby. She’d seen enough children to last her a lifetime.

So, Elsa watched, with her newly opening azure eyes, her bedroom door shut sharply, leaving her alone for the first time – but certainly not for the last.

* * *

Jack Frost was lonely. He missed the days of the Vikings, and their reverent _belief_ in Jokul Frosti. In this new land, this new time, any remnants of his existence had been wiped clean. Every so often, someone would look in his direction, and he’d feel his heart leap hopefully – before they walked literally through him, to greet someone behind him.

To be honest, that hurt quite a bit.

But today he’d vowed to be happy. Today was a day of celebration, the whole kingdom was enjoying themselves and forgetting the hardships of the last few years. Today was the day the princess was born. And he, unlike everyone else, was going to meet the princess.

Those damn trolls were the only company he’d had for years now. Papa had been promising him since his arrival that there was something he needed to do here, and it was only a few hours ago that he’d confirmed that it was indeed something to do with this new baby.

Flying over the town, he was filled with a sort of bittersweet pride. Everything looked beautiful, perfect and tranquil as he’d intended it to be, and it gave him an oddly warm feeling to see the children playing in the same way those on his island had. But he knew that they’d never know that this was thanks to him, the precision and care that went into every detail of the scene, the painstakingly crafted elements of each individual snowflake. He loved his work, but all he wanted was a little thanks.

Oddly enough, the room that had been designated for the princess was almost completely empty once he arrived. To begin with, he thought he’d gotten the wrong room, but one peek into the window of the adjoining nanny’s room gave a good enough reason for the baby to be alone, as well as giving Jack an uncharacteristic blush.

Elsa herself was silent, only making a single worried noise as the tall spirit approached her crib. She appeared to be a calm child, the complete polar opposite to the screaming and often violent Viking babies he’d encountered before. Her eyes gazed curiously up at him, wide and bluer than the icy depth of the ocean. Just looking into them gave Jack a sense of vertigo, as if he were falling from a great height.

He reached into the crib, and gently lifted her out, praying to whatever gods this culture had graced with their belief that she wouldn’t cry. Instead, she giggled, quietly, as if she knew that this had to stay secret. Jack held her in front of him, so they were almost nose to nose, and each regarded the other with the same sort of confused curiosity, her tiny starfish hands reaching out to grab onto silvery locks.

That gentle tug reminded Jack of something, and his eyes widened, mouth dropping open in a mix of shock and ecstasy. “You…see me?”

The little girl smiled, her hands twirling through his hair, every touch the first human contact he’d received for well over a century. “You see me!” He laughed, leaping into the air, spinning the two of them around as the wind slowed their fall. “This is amazing… you can actually _see_ me, you _believe_ in me!”

As his bare feet landed back on the ground, the joy started to wear off, and he began to realise what that meant. Yes, he’d finally found someone who believed in him – but for how long? So many children stopped believing after just a few short years, and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing this so soon.

An idea began to blossom in his mind, like frost spreading across a lake. It could go wrong, he could end up just hurting the both of them – but if it didn’t, he’d finally be happy again, after over a hundred years of misery and loneliness. If his and Elsa’s fates truly were entwined, surely it would mean that this was supposed to happen?

He cradled her closer to his chest, and extended a single finger towards her face. A glittering snowflake floated in front of her, and she giggled, attempting to grab it. He smiled softly, and made it dance around, trailing frost as it brushed against her nightgown. “Isn’t it pretty, Elsa? You have snowflakes in your eyes, that’s what he’d say. It’s what he always told me. ‘Snowflakes in your eyes, and ice on the brain’. He was a real jerk, wasn’t he?”

He smiled sadly, his throat beginning to close up. “I hated him. I hated him for nearly fifty years, because he could have run with me – I gave him the option, but he refused. He chose to stay behind, to die… he chose to leave me, Elsa, and that hurt me more than you could imagine.”

The temperature of the room had begun to drop, the wind picking up as he finally released the emotions he’d been suppressing for so long. “Then I realised that I didn’t hate him, of course I didn’t hate him. I just loved him so, so much, it was painful. He’d broken me, and I don’t think I’m going to get fixed. But every thought of him has something happy in it.” Elsa’s gaze broke away from the snowflake, looking serenely up at him as if to convince him to continue. “I wish you could have known him; he was amazing. Quiet, but oh so sarcastic, modest, even if he had everything to boast about… I sound like such a sap, don’t I little snowflake?” He laughed, even as tears began to well up. “But I mean every word. He was perfect, and I’m never going to forget him.”

“But he told me something, just before he left. I was scared, so terrified that I’d never find anyone else like him – anyone else that believed in me. Do you want to know what he told me?”

_“If there’s one thing I truly believe in, Jack Frost, it’s that you are not going to be forgotten. Not by me, and not by history. It may take years, but you’ll find someone else. Even if the idea of you being ‘Jokul Frosti’ dies along with us, you’ll still be here. Do you know why?”_

“You’re everything that is fun, Jack. And I highly doubt that fun’s dying any time soon.”

The room was silent, and Jack only realised that he was crying when icy tears began dripping down onto Elsa. The snowflake glowed brighter, and he steeled his nerves. It was now or never, and he refused to lose another believer.

“I’m not letting you leave me so soon. I promise you Elsa, I will look after you: you’ll be just like me, and you’ll never forget Jack Frost.”

The snowflake landed on Elsa’s chest, and slowly faded into her heart. Jack took a shaky breath, and set her down once again, backing away slowly, nervously looking her over for any harm. But she appeared fine, albeit a little confused. He sighed in relief, and turned towards the window, vowing to return the next day.

He was gone before Elsa let a cry of fear out, and the temperature plummeted and shards of ice flew across the room.

* * *

“Elsa, why are you still awake?”

The sleepy voice of the youngest princess cut through the still night air, stirring the blonde child gazing out of the window from her stupor.

“Because it’s my birthday now.” The smile on her face was uncharacteristically unguarded for the usually reserved Arendelle heir.

“So? Your party isn’t until after _lunch_. It’s the middle of the night!”

“Three o’clock, actually. And I’m not awake for the party. I’m waiting.”

“For _what_? Elsa, stop it, you know it annoys me!” The ginger girl was now fully awake, a pout on her chubby face. Elsa giggled, and beckoned her sister closer.

“I know, that’s why I do it.” Anna stumbled across the room, still too tired to quite remember exactly how to walk, let alone in the intended direction. She was on the verge of nosediving out of the wide-open window as Elsa pulled her back, and into her lap. “And to answer your question, I’m waiting for my friend.”

“You don’t have any friends.”

Elsa winced at the unintended brutality of that statement. She knew that her sister, in her three-year-old innocence, hadn’t meant for it to sound so mean, but the truth hit hard. As heir to the throne, there were very limited options for Elsa to make a friend – the children of the town weren’t considered good enough to befriend a _princess_ , and the children of her father’s aristocratic ‘friends’ and advisors avoided her, having heard from their parents that they should stay away, that there was something strange about the quiet princess.

“Jack is my friend. He’s all I need.” Having spotted the quivering bottom lip, she quickly amended herself. “Him and you, of course.”

“Who’s Jack?”

“Why, only the clever, talented, and devilishly handsome winter spirit that all the faeries are talking about! Bringer of ice and snow, nipping on your nose… surely you’ve heard of me?”

Elsa’s head whipped around, and a smile split her face as the winter spirit took a low, sinking bow, his curved stick tapping the floor and sending swirls of frost towards the sisters. It was only then that he seemed to register the second girl, doing a comical double-take before looking to Elsa.

“Hey snowflake, who’s the gingernut?”

“Gingernut? My name is Princess Anna, I’ll have you know, and my mother says that my hair isn’t ginger, it’s red and beautiful!”

“Yeah, whatever you say, half-pint. And trust me, I’ve met mermaids, and some of them have hair so red it’ll make yours look white.”

“What, like yours?”

“Yeah, and – “ Jack stopped, blue eyes lighting up with what looked like hope. “You can see me?”

Anna looked worriedly to her big sister, then back to Jack. “Um… yes?”

“You see me… Elsa, she sees me!” The joy in his voice, whilst confusing her, warmed Elsa’s heart just a bit. She’d never seen him so genuinely happy – he was always laughing, joking and smiling, but he also seemed to carry a bittersweet melancholy whenever she saw him. It was good to see him forget his sadness, even for a moment.

“Elsa, what is he talking about?” Anna tugged on her sleeve, pulling her from her thoughts, bringing her to look at the worried face of her sister. “Why wouldn’t I be able to see him?”

“Uh, Jack?” Elsa called up to where he bounced between the rafter, shouting with glee. At her shout, he came whiling down, to scoop them both up in a messy hug. “Sorry, it’s just… wow. This is amazing. You _believe_ in me, and I just… I can’t… how? How can you see me?” He gripped Anna by the shoulders, looking at her curiously. “No one else but Elsa can… why can you?”

Anna shrugged, and grinned. “I’m not very good at doing what I’m supposed to do.”

Jack stared at her for what felt like a solid minute, before dissolving into peals of laughter, Anna and Elsa soon joining in out of sheer happiness, their sleep forgotten.

* * *

“Jack, who was Hiccup?”

They sat on the rooftop, gazing out into the fjord as Elsa tentatively broke the silence. For eighteen years now, she’d seen Jack once a year, and each time, she’d pour out her every emotion, cry and shout or laugh and smile fondly at lost memories. But never once had she dared to ask about Jack himself, let alone the man he constantly referenced, but never properly discussed.

He visibly flinched, and looked at her suspiciously. “Who told you that name?”

“You did.” She said calmly, trying to keep a level head. “You keep telling me I sound like him, or act like him… but I still don’t know anything about him. Please, you know so much about me. Can you trust me with this?”

He took a deep breath, and smiled at her. The smile was filled with a bittersweet feeling Elsa was all too familiar with, and she felt her heart swell with pride when he nodded, agreed to trust her.

“Do I really keep mentioning him?” He looked nearly on the verge of tears, and Elsa knew better than to interrupt him, as when Jack got going on a topic, he didn’t let anything stop the tirade of speech until he felt that he was done.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to keep comparing you to him… but you’re just so _similar_.” He looked over her face, and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “You don’t look at all alike though. You’re all ice and snow and prettiness – he was more along the line of floppy hair and _hot_.”

Elsa felt her face heat up, and Jack blushed too as what he’d said caught up with him. “Uhh, I know people round here aren’t really… comfortable with this sort of thing. Is this okay with you?”

She knew that her father would have wanted her to say no, that her mother would have shocked and slightly repulsed. But they had been disgusted by _her_ before, and they were no longer here to tell her what she had to think. So, was she alright with it?

“Yes.” Her heart spoke before her head, but she knew that it was the truth. “From the way you look when you talk about him, I can see that it’s not half as evil and ungodly as I’ve been told. You’re a good man, Jack. I’ve known you for years, and something as small as this won’t change how I think of you.”

“Spoken like a true queen.” With a short wave of his pale fingers, snow began to fall, coming together to form a crude image of a tall, slender boy. Jack had been pretty truthful, as from what she could tell, Hiccup was indeed very handsome. The snow figure was not as smooth and flawless as her own ice, but it was beautiful in its own way – softer, and holding a lot more happiness and fun than the harsh edges of ice.

They talked long into the night, Jack spilling out long-repressed memories, and Elsa gently listening and encouraging him to keep speaking. She found herself wishing that she could meet this man, but it was clear that he was long gone, the closest she could ever come being the tiny figure who seemed to have become bored by Jack’s rambling, and had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

During a lull in the conversation, Elsa peered closer at the slumbering dragon rider, and smiled at how perfectly Jack seemed to have remembered him. “He had braids.”

“Hmm?” Jack slid a hand underneath him, and smiled fondly as he nuzzled into the snow spirit’s thumb. “Yes, he did. Adorable, right?” The snow Hiccup frowned in his sleep, as if unconsciously wanting to reprimand Jack. “He wasn’t quite the typical Viking, as you might have guessed. But this was something that was a sort of link between him and his father. Haddock men had a certain liking for needless braids.”

He started a little when he felt cool hands at the back of his neck, and looked round into Elsa’s wide blue eyes. “What are you doing?” She shrugged, not really sure of the reason herself. “I just thought that you’d like it. A little token to remember him by. Because I know you’ve been trying to forget about him, and that’s not healthy. It’s a part of you, Jack. You’ll never escape it, so the best thing to do is accept it.”

Somewhere along the lines, she’d started talking about herself and her own repressed secrets, the endless run from her powers. But she’d realised long ago that the damage was irreparable. She hoped that if she could help Jack, her oldest friend, her only ally, she would finally be doing something right.

Snow slowly began to fall on the slumbering Arendelle, as the heir to the throne gently plaited the strands of silvery hair, and icy tears fell onto the long-gone dragon rider.

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> There... I hope it wasn't too awful.  
> I'm sort of thinking about just writing a load of short stories that link into my personal headcanon, because I've managed to prove to myself how awful I am at writing chaptered stories. But this one was only supposed to be short, but it ended up way longer than expected, so the description of 'short' is used very loosely.   
> Thank you for reading x


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